The following journal subscriptions are being cancelled as part of the 2024-2025 cost savings measures: (Last Updated November 19 2024)

• Springer Online Journals (not including Nature journal subscriptions)
• Readers Guide Abstracts
• Street & Smith’s Sports Business Journal (print)
• Lyell Collection

Please note that assessing library subscriptions are a normal, ongoing process every year: This includes reviewing usage data, cancelling, and adding new subscriptions.

A limited selection of individual journal subscriptions will be announced in the coming weeks. The Library’s Collection Services Department is evaluating journals based on several factors, including Brock usage, overall journal cost, cost-per-use, relevance to faculty, support for unique programs, and the availability of open access materials.

Please note that the cancellation of the Springer subscription will take effect starting with publications from 2025. Library users will still have access to journals published in 2024 or earlier, as well as open access articles, through OMNI and the Springer database. Journals affected by the cancellation will remain accessible through interlibrary loan (ILL) at no cost to our users.

Retained Springer Titles: Coming Soon (Last Updated November 19 2024)

The Library periodically updates its monograph collections, but this year’s changes are not significantly different from previous years. However, our purchasing capacity for new print and electronic content has been reduced.

No. Most of the online resources that Brock scholars use are paid for by the Library through subscriptions and licenses, although they may often appear to work seamlessly with other freely available online tools (eg. Google scholar). These resources are usually quite expensive. Additionally, many disciplines still rely heavily on print material.

There are a number of issues impacting the library’s buying power this fiscal year. Firstly, annual price inflation has increased sharply since the pandemic. In the past, we would typically plan for a 3% overall budget increase. More recently, 5% increases appear to be more common. At times, the price increases can exceed the rate of inflation, being above 10% for specific resources. Secondly, Brock University is currently operating at a deficit of $10.1 million.

Another concern is the fluctuation of the Canadian currency. Changes in currency exchange rates can result in resource costs increasing. The Library has made various financial changes to help reduce the impact of currency devaluation, however it can still impact some areas of the collection budget.

Journal subscription prices have increased steadily over the last few decades. Journals produced by commercial publishers are also about 5 times the price of those published by professional or academic societies. New journals are frequently created, and the cost of existing journal subscriptions are increasing at rates beyond the inflation rate.

The Library supports open access initiatives at Brock. Open access is a model of scholarly publishing in which material is available online free of charge. The existence of alternative models of scholarly publishing may start to put pressure on commercial publishers to change and reduce costs and may reduce the problem of libraries having to purchase the results of the research produced at their institution.

Due to this reduced buying power, the Library’s collection strategy has to be very focused. The library will review all collecting practices. This will mean:

• Avoiding duplication in content.
• Reviewing serials, monographs and databases for overlapping and redundant content
• Reducing the number of subscriptions and standing orders that no longer support the university’s research, teaching and curriculum
• Transitioning from print to online serial subscriptions when available and cost effective
• Relying more on ILL and document delivery